The Story of Lauretta Tonks
by Felicity Wood
Summary: Hogwarts twenty five years later when Hermione Granger is the Headmistress... the triwizard tournament once again takes place at Hogwarts...
1. Hogwarts Letter

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter Characters, I just write about them... But I do own Princess Elizabeth, if she should try and make her way into this story....  
  
Author's Note: I just re-edited and reformatted this chapter. But i didn't email it to Nellabelle yet for betaing... so there might be some horrendous grammatical error that i didn't catch... even though i tried to skim, so i'm sorry if there are any errors.

"Can you go see if any more owls came dear?" Nymphadora Tonks asked her fifteen year old daughter.  
  
Lauretta sighed, as her mother bustled around the house, looking for all of the supplies she might need before going on her journey. She walked slowly from the kitchen to where the mail came in despite the fact that it was only about ten feet. The Quidditch World Cup was always there thing. It was always something they did together, and this year, their mother had insisted that they leave early because of Ministry business. Everything was ministry business these days and Lauretta hated it.  
  
There were in fact six letters that had been dropped on the door step by various owls, three whom were still lurking on the bushes. Lauretta motioned to the owl watering unit hidden behind a shrub and one of the owls hooted politely before the three of them converged on the water to drink thirstily.  
  
Lauretta stooped over to pick up the letters and shuffled through them quickly. They were all from the ministry except one, which was marked carefully Lauretta Tonks bedroom at the top of the stairs. Lauretta's heart sunk as she turned over the letter and noted that it was from the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
  
It wasn't that Lauretta hated going to school, she liked the actual school part well enough; it was the people at school that bothered her immensely. Hogwarts had been fun the few years she had gone there. But last year Lauretta's best friend had transferred to Beauxbatons. During Lauretta's fourth year the entire school began to divide up as purebloods versus half bloods or muggle born students, and Lauretta didn't care in the slightest what she was, and didn't know, so she'd been thrown into a group all on her own so school was no longer enjoyable.  
  
Lauretta dropped the letters for her mother on the kitchen counter and then went into the family room where she sat on the couch pulling her feet up beside her, and then opened the letter.  
  
Lauretta very rarely received any mail, so she took her time opening it carefully, so as not to rip the contents. She dropped the standard letter that came every year and glanced over the supply list: Standard Book of Spells Grade 5, Hogwarts A History, Decoding Deathly Dreams, Stumoflubs and 101 other poisonous Herbs, From the Sprout to the Remedy, Transfiguration: A guide to Transformation, Alywaters to Zatters; An ABC guide to Magical Creatureas, 1 Million Useful potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts vol 1-4.  
  
. Lauretta scanned over the list again, mentally counting the books. Not since her first year had she ever needed more than two or three new books. Sure this was the year they were taking their OWLs and she knew they would be cracking down on the books but she hadn't thought it would be this bad. When would she find time to practice Quidditch? She was the star Chaser for the Ravenclaw team and they would need her. Francis Lewis had graduated last year and she'd been hoping to be made Quidditch Captain.  
  
She finally picked up her letter wondering if there could be anything different. When she picked it up a prefects badge fell out of it. She stared at it for a few seconds, shocked and dismayed. She didn't want to be a prefect. All the students would be furious at her if she tried to punish anyone. She sighed and unfolded the letter.  
  
Dear Hogwarts Student,  
The term at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry will recommence  
as usual on September 1. Please purchase the listed supplies. We  
look forward to seeing you.  
Your new Headmistress,  
Hermione Granger  
Order of Merlin 1st Class  
  
Lauretta stared at the words. New Headmistress? And the Hermione Granger? Of the Terrific Trio? She stared dumbfounded. There couldn't be more than one Hermione Granger. She got up from the sagging red couch and went back into the kitchen to ask her mother about it.  
  
"Hey Mum?" She asked her mother who was hunched over some papers, her hair changing from white to pink every few seconds as it tended to do when she was stressed.  
  
"Please, Lauretta, I don't have time right now, talk to me later okay?" Tonks said hurridly putting her hand up to silence Lauretta.  
  
"Umm... sure," Lauretta replied walking away dejectedly. 


	2. The Carriage Ride

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter Characters, I just write about them... But I do own Princess Elizabeth, if she should try and make her way into this story....  
  
Author's Note: I just reedited and reformatted this chapter.  
  
I don't think there are any really important changes though.  
  
Lauretta got off the Hogwarts Express with very little enthusiasm. She had already been accosted by Faustina Crabbe and Gertrude Goyle. They were the two meanest fifth year girls at Hogwarts. Many of their relatives had ben jailed as dark wizards and they had taken it upon themselves to avenge them by taking it out on Lauretta whose mother was an auror. Eventually the Weasley Triplets had come to the compartment claiming that every where else was full and Faustina and Gertrude had left in disgust.  
  
Lauretta had then tried to get to sleep but she realized now how stupid that idea had been, trying to sleep when you're alone with the Weasley triplets. Whatever. When she awoke she looked at herself in the mirror, her face was an unearthly shade of turquoise and she had the most disgusting taste in her mouth. She looked around and noticed an open box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans and realized that they had been feeding her all the disgusting ones in her sleep. She looked back in the mirror and concentrated until her face changed back to its normal colour. Then she left the compartment and went down the corridor to throw up and then slowly walked back.  
  
Lee and Giovanni were immersed in a book and only Randall looked up when she came in. "Sorry." He mouthed. She ignored him and picked up on of her own books. When she looked up again he was frowning out the window. She had just dismissed it.  
  
As she stepped off the train she thought of Randall again. He had offered to help her with her trunk and she had declined. She almost wished she had as it was heavy laden with all the books. She found an empty coach except for Hallie McMillian, a well known narcoleptic, and she picked up her book again. They were just about to move when Randall hoped in. "We're always last off and there's never enough room for all three of us." He complained well naturedly.  
  
She gave him a small smile then went back to her book.  
  
He glanced around. "Nice broomstick." He commented. "It's a Firebolt right? A classic. My dad says he doesn't think they ever made a better broom. He also said it cost a fortune in his day, and it was quite a rarity and they had one on their team. Dad'll go on for ages about Quidditch back at Hogwarts, Mum too. She eventually bought herself a Firebolt, wont' let me touch it."  
  
Lauretta, finally reconciled to talking, put her book down. "It is a beauty isn't it?" She smiled slightly.  
  
"She speaks." Randall said feigning astonishment. "I don't think I've ever heard you speak in all our five years here."  
  
"Well you might not want to get me started, I can talk your ear off if you get me started." She replied grinning now.  
  
"I'd have to hear it to believe it." He replied. "You're one of the Raven claw Chasers right?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Words." He said. "In order to talk my ear off you're gong to need to use words."  
  
"Yes I am one of the Ravenclaw Chasers, and this year I'm hoping to be made Captain. Ravenclaw hasn't won the Quidditch Cup in years, and I think it's a bloody shame. Francis wasn't a good Captain but he wasn't focused on winning. Infact last year he was more focused on Attica than anything. I'm really not sure if I'll be able to handle being Captain though, because of the OWLs, could you believe how many books were on the list? Are those enough words for you?" She took a deep breath and smiled.  
  
"Yes. And Francis was a git... And well about winning the cup, I wouldn't be too ready. The entire Gryffindor team this year is made up of Weasleys. I'm pretty sure we have what it takes to win."  
  
She laughed, imagining an entire team of Weasleys on the Quiddtich field. She didn't know any of them well, but she didn't think they were all as mischievous as the triplets were. "What position do you play?" She asked him.  
  
"Oh, I'm one of the Beaters. Gee's the other one. My pop and Uncle George were the Beaters too. They were so proud of us. Mum and Aunt Alicia too. Them and Uncle Charlie all played together, and then later with Uncle Ron too."  
  
"Which one's Gee?" Lauretta asked.  
  
"Giovanni." He laughed as he replied. "Lee's the Keeper. I can see why you asked as Dad and Uncle George's shop is Gred and Forge's."  
  
"Well, just don't hit me too hard with the Bludger."  
  
"Oh, I don't think that will be too much of a problem. You go too fast on a Firebolt. Say." He said his voice turning serious suddenly. "Can you see them?"  
  
"What?" She asked puzzled. She looked out of the carriage where he pointed.  
  
"Neither can I." He continued. "Giovanni can. I'm not sure why. I didn't really want to be in the carriage with him anyway. He gets all melancholy and stares at them." She still didn't respond and he looked at her curiously. "You don't know about them do you?" he finally asked.  
  
"No I don't."  
  
"You're probably better off that way."  
  
Suddenly the carriage lurched, and Hallie and Lauretta were thrown to the floor. The lanterns that normally lit the coach with their eerie green light were extinguished. All around them everything was dark and silent. "Lumos." Lauretta heard Randall whisper and a yellow ball of light appeared at the end of his wand. "Are you okay?" He asked her.  
  
"Yhea." She replied as he offered her his hand to help her up. They both glanced at Hallie, but somehow she was still sleeping. "What do you think happened?"  
  
"I don't know." He replied. They both went over to the window and gazed out. Randall almost immediately extinguished his light.  
  
"What?" She asked.  
  
"Don't you see it?"  
  
"No."  
  
"The Dark Mark, it's over there."  
  
"The what?" She asked. She didn't like the sound of it, and had noted the fear in his voice.  
  
"You don't know what the dark mark is? Isn't your mum an auror?"  
  
"Yes, but she doesn't really like to bring her work home, when she is at home that is." Lauretta replied frowning at him slightly.  
  
"Well it's the sign that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named used when he was still in power, and now it's been adopted by He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named."  
  
Lauretta stared at him wide eyed. "Does that mean...?" She trailed off.  
  
"I'm not sure." He replied uncertainly. They huddled together in silence waiting and watching for something to happen. Maybe ten minutes later some tortured screams occurred from somewhere near them. Lauretta grabbed Randall's hand in fear. "Maybe we should stay down." He said slowly. "And try and wake up Hallie."  
  
Lauretta nodded numbly. "Hallie?" She whispered. "Hallie." Hallie just continued sleeping. "Arg, there's got to be a spell." She muttered. "Revielle." She finally whispered.  
  
Hallie yawned slowly. "Hmm?" She groaned.  
  
"Hallie, It's Lauretta and Randy. Something happened to the coaches, and Randy saw the dark mark."  
  
"Really?" Hallie whispered back excitedly. "Do you think He-Who-Should-Not- Be-Named is about?"  
  
"Possibly." Randall whispered back. The screaming finally diminished into the darkness, and suddenly just as quickly as they had stopped the carriages started and the lights came back on.  
  
"Huh." Said Hallie, mystified. Randall shrugged but Lauretta looked out the window warily. She knew that as an auror's daughter she was always sin danger. That was probably the only thing her mum had told her of, and Lord Cafluyou back. She would never tell any of the stuffy people at school this but she was related to him. She shuddered at the thought of it, and Randall eyed her curiously. Hallie had gone back to sleep again. The rest of the trip they remained silent until they stopped, and then Lauretta woke up Hallie again.  
  
"You sure you don't need help with your trunk?" Randall asked her again.  
  
"Well, alright." She replied, shy again now that they were leaving the coach. What if he told everyone that she didn't know anything? Or that she had been badmouthing Francis and wanted to be Quidditch Captain?  
  
"What?" He asked, noting her look.  
  
"Nothing," She replied as Giovanni and Lee came running up.  
  
"Did anything happen on your carriage?" Lee asked excitedly. Giovanni just eyed Lauretta who lagged slightly behind. He had an evil smirk on his face that she did not like the look of.  
  
"No, Nothing happened." Randall replied. "But you guys'll never believe this. Lauretta talks."  
  
The other two looked at her with the same astonished look that Randall had had earlier. Lauretta just blushed furiously and ran past the three of them. Why had he done that to her? 


	3. The Sorting

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter Characters, I just write about them.  
  
Despite the fact that she had hurried inside, Lauretta was still one of the last people into the great hall. She looked around for an open spot at the Ravenclaw table and Hallie waved her over.  
  
"Hi." Lauretta said uncertainly. "You sure I won't be in your way?"  
  
"Oh no." Hallie assured her warmly. "Besides, no one ever wants to sit by me anyway; I'm too likely to fall asleep on them."  
  
"Well, I'll be happy to sit with you." Lauretta answered.  
  
"Do you think they'll announce what happened?" Hallie asked.  
  
"Not until after the sorting."  
  
"Ugh, and someone told me that the first years are all being detained on the lake until they make sure they are all safe. It'll be forever till we know." She paused thoughtfully. "So what's with you and Randy Weasley?"  
  
"Nothing." Lauretta informed her, blushing as she did. She glanced his way and saw that he was immersed in conversation with his brothers.  
  
"They are cute." Hallie commented slyly. "And awfully funny."  
  
"And annoying." Lauretta added. Randy glanced over at her, and smiled slightly. Somehow Lauretta couldn't help but smile back.  
  
"Wave." Hallie instructed. Lauretta obeyed, Randy grinned. "Oh yes Lauretta, of course there's nothing between you and Randy." Hallie smirked.  
  
Just then the first years came in and the old grimy sorting hat was placed on a stool in front of the room. The first years all eyed it fearfully and several gasped when the brim opened and it began to sing.  
  
No hat is there as smart as I To tell which house, I cannot lie I tell you true Which house is for you And there at Hogwarts you will reside  
  
Gryffindor is for the true and just Bravery there is surely a must Scarlet and red is their banner Gallant and friendly is their manner There unity is founded on their deep trust  
  
The smart do best in Ravenclaw No other house can show a paw They'll dazzle you with their brains Academically they make their gains And always will they keep to the law  
  
The Hufflepuffs are gentle and sweet Good friends from there you surely will meet They will stay loyal to you Never a mean thing shall they do When you fall they'll help you back on your feet  
  
They Slytherins are a cunning bunch Beware or they might trick you out of your lunch Sly and stupendously clever A wittier bunch you'll meet, never You may dazzle there, I have a hunch  
  
And so the four houses stand Each have their fine points and are rather grand Now try me on and find your place And we'll see where your seven years will face.  
  
The first years started being sorted then and Lauretta gazed off towards the Gryffindor table, uninterested in the ceremony. The triplets were once again engrossed in planning something troublesome no doubt. She went back to watching the ceremony, scanning over the teachers. Several of the old ones were back, and there were a few new ones. Professor Snape was still the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, McGonagall was still Transfiguration, Flitwick, the head of her house was still Charms, Binns, History. There was a new face in the spot where Professor Sinity had sat, a new Potions teacher. He looked about in his mid thirties with bushy blonde hair, and a few freckles that looked out of place on him. The sorting ended and Professor Granger then stood up and held up her hand for silence. The hall was silenced immediately as everyone wanted to know the news of what had happened.  
  
"As many of you know, one of the carriages was attacked by a dark wizard. The identity of this wizard is as of yet unknown, but the boy who was attacked is in the hospital wing at the moment recovering. He's doing fine so there is no reason for worrying about him. Because of this incident all trips to Hogsmede are canceled until further notice. Now then, on a much lighter note, the Triwizard Tournament is once again scheduled to take place at Hogwarts. As many of you probably know, last time the Triwizard Tournament took place at Hogwarts one of the students died. And because the Tournament was deemed on safe a council regarding it was held in regards to it. It was agreed at this council that as it was unfair to only have those over seventeen compete every time the tournament took place a different age group would be able to compete. Since then the tournament has taken place at Beauxbatons and at Durmstrang and will now be returning to Hogwarts. This year the age restriction is for those who are fifteen only. Therefore you must be fifteen when you place your name in the goblet of fire. Those who are turning sixteen soon after then are still allowed to compete. The selection of the three champions will take place during October, after those from the other schools have arrived. And that's all I have to say so let the feast begin!"  
  
The plates filled with food and as Lauretta filled her plate she glanced at Hallie to discuss the news with her, but she had fallen asleep. Lauretta just smiled and began eating.  
  
Later on as Lauretta and Hallie were leaving the Dining Hall, Randall caught up to them. "Hi." He said catching his breath.  
  
"Hi yourself." Lauretta replied, letting a small smile escape as she did.  
  
"Well I have to be going to Madam Pomfrey's to be getting my medication." Hallie said winking at Lauretta. "I'll see you later."  
  
"Umm. I didn't offend you before did I?" Randall asked the second Hallie was out of hearing.  
  
"Well, kind of." Lauretta replied truthfully.  
  
"Sorry." He responded quickly. "I wasn't meaning to. I was only teasing."  
  
"That's okay." Lauretta said, smiling at his eagerness.  
  
"And Giovanni and Lee will warm up to you eventually." Lauretta glanced over at him and noted that he was truly concerned about her. His green eyes were very serious and the look made him seem older and more mature than she had ever seen him before. Even on the carriage ride, when she couldn't see him in the darkness she had still imagined him with the mischievous smile still playing on his lips. She' never really thought of the triplets of having anything to them except jokes and laughs.  
  
"I hope so." She replied softly.  
  
He smiled carefully and opened his mouth to speak when Peeves the poltergeist suddenly zoomed through a wall and began pelting Lauretta with peanut butter. "Evening Randy." He said.  
  
"Peeves stop it!" Randy yelled, thoroughly annoyed. Because they were both creators of chaos Peeves and Randy normally got on well, but it was not the time.  
  
Peeves just snickered and began pelting Randall as well. "Randy and Lauretta, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." He screeched.  
  
"PEEVES!" Randall shouted, as he scooped some peanut butter off the ground and chucked it at him.  
  
"HA! HA!" Peeves shouted back as he began swooping through Randy. "You forgot. you can't catch me."  
  
"Now, now Peeves." A voice said behind them. Lauretta and Randall whirled around to see Hermione Granger behind them. "What would Fred say if he could see you tormenting his son like that?" Peeves stopped midway through Randall and looked at her thinking. "And.Peeves." She continued. She walked up to him and began whispering in his ear, and a sly grin crept across his face. He swirled up and disappeared.  
  
"Thanks Herm." Randy said grinning again.  
"Uh, Randy, I'd prefer if you called me Professor Granger while we're here." She turned to Lauretta. "And I don't believe that we've met." She held out her hand to Lauretta who just stared at her numbly. She'd never even spoken to the Headmaster before and now that it was Hermione Granger, she was speaking to her on the very first day!  
  
"I'm.er, I'm Lauretta Tonks." She whispered, shaking her hand.  
  
"Tonks? Oh yes, I know your mother, Fun Lady."  
  
Lauretta just nodded. What? Her mother knew Hermione Granger? She'd never told her that before. Well it wasn't like her mother was ever home to tell her anything anyway.  
  
"So, Professor Granger. What'd you tell Peeves?" Randall asked.  
  
"Nothing." She replied slyly. "Well I'd best be off, nice meeting you Lauretta." And she went off down the hall in the direction of the library as Lauretta just stared in awe.  
  
"You called her Herm?!?" She asked the second Hermione was out of hearing.  
  
"Yhea." Randall replied nonchalantly. "She's like an Aunt to me, she comes to all the gatherings for family and everything. "  
  
"Wow." Lauretta managed to utter.  
  
"Well you know my uncle is Ron Weasley. Harry Potter comes all of the gatherings too."  
  
Lauretta just stared at this news. She had never quite connected in her head that as a Weasley who had an Uncle Ron, Randall was related to that Ron Weasley.  
  
"So are you going to enter the Tournament?" he asked changing the subject abruptly.  
  
"I guess so." She replied uncertainly. "I mean it's not as if I have a hope of getting picked though. Are you entering?"  
  
"No." He said, surprising Lauretta. "We can't." he explained. "Our Birthday is in a few days and we'll be sixteen."  
  
"Oh, I see." Lauretta commented. "What day?"  
  
"The seventeenth." He said looking at her curiously. "Why?"  
  
"No reason." She said slyly. They had come to the stairway that Lauretta needed to descend to get to the Ravenclaw Common room, and Randy was going up so they stopped.  
  
"Well.erm." Randall said as he absentmindedly shifted from one foot to another. His nervousness was sudden and it took Lauretta by surprise.  
  
"See you tomorrow then." She said brightly, as she turned to go down the stairs.  
  
"Yhea." He said. His tone seemingly disappointed. She just went down to the common room, dismissing it from her head.  
  
When she got there, most everyone was gathered catching up. Lauretta didn't see anyone she much felt like talking to so she just went up to the girls' dorm and settled into her bed. But when she tried to close her eyes all she could hear were the haunting screams from the carriage ride. 


	4. Snape's Assignment

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter Characters, I just write about them.and Dru once we get to him is purely Carissa's but she gave me permission to lend him out for awhile.  
And thanks for the tips about the paragraphing guys. I appreciated it.  
  
When Lauretta came into the dining hall the next day she couldn't find Hallie so she sat with all the Quidditch players, the only people she ever really felt comfortable with.  
  
"Can you believe they cancelled Quidditch?" Eric Alterby, a black haired fourth year was just saying.  
  
"I know!" Renee Zalsky replied. She smiled at Lauretta as she sat down. "I was sure you would make Captain too Lauretta."  
  
"Thanks." Lauretta said blushing.  
  
"Are you going to enter the tournament?" Eric asked his eyes lighting up.  
  
"Yhea," Lauretta replied nervously. She'd kind of hoped the topic would stay off of that. "But I'll never make it." She added quickly taking a small bite of her toast.  
  
"Oh why not?" Renee asked. "You're decent at everything, Hogwarts would-"  
  
She was interrupted as the owl post came in and a schedule, along with any other mail was dropped down in front of every student. Lauretta didn't get any other mail, but for once she tore open her schedule eagerly. She couldn't help but grin at the sight of her first class. It was Double Defense Against the Dark Arts with Gryffindor.  
  
Lauretta barely made it to Defense Against the Dark Arts on time and she quickly scanned the room for a seat from the back so as not to attract attention to herself. Randall mouthed an apology to her, because all the seats around him were full and Lauretta just nodded.  
  
She looked around for Hallie, but she was no where to be seen. Finally, Lauretta just sat down next to a girl she didn't remember who was wearing black lipstick and dark eye make up. The girl didn't even bat an eyelash at her. Lauretta just stared ahead nervously. The aura coming off this girl gave her the impression that if she stared at her for to long, Lauretta would be murdered.  
  
"Good day class." Professor Snape said icily as he entered the room. "Since the Triwizard tournament will be starting in October , most likely you will lose all focus on your school work so until October we must get mostly the entire curriculum for the year in. This year we will be studying curses at the request of the new Headmistress. And in the light of the events of yesterday and-" He got a very nasty look on his face, and several students shuddered involuntarily. "Miss Grangers own lesson on curses when she was here at school, we are going to start on the unforgivable curses. Now I expect you all to take notes."  
  
The girl next to Lauretta began tapping her long shiny black nails on the table as she pulled out her parchment. Lauretta stared at them curiously, and the girl turned and glared at her. Lauretta looked away quickly, scared again.  
  
"Miss Weasley." Snape said crisply. "Can you tell me the three unforgivable curses?"  
  
"Yes." The girl sitting next to Lauretta said.  
  
Snape glared vehemently at her. "Three points from Gryffindor for your impertinence Miss Weasley. Tell us what they are then."  
  
"The cruciatus, Imperius, and Avada Kedavra." She said sounding extremely bored.  
  
Snape moved on and Lauretta just stared. She was a Weasley? But her hair wasn't even red! The girl caught her looking and glared again, and Lauretta quickly looked away.  
  
"To cover these three curses we will be doing group term projects on them. There will be six groups of three and each group will be given a curse and the different aspects they are to focus on. I will tell you which aspect you will receive after you have gathered some background information. Now pick your groups carefully, because this project determines one third of your grade for the year." Snape gave the triplets a look as he said this.  
  
The room rushed to get into groups. Lauretta knew with out even glancing his way that Randall would be with his brothers so she didn't even bother getting up. She would be with Hallie and. Lauretta looked around to see if anyone else was not in a group. There was only one, the gothic Weasley.  
  
"So.erm.do you want to be in a group together?" Lauretta asked, twirling a brown curl around her finger nervously.  
  
"Alright." The girl said shrugging.  
  
A shadow fell over their table and Lauretta looked up at Professor Snape. She couldn't help but shrink back at his menacing look. "And do you have a group?" He asked.  
  
"Yes sir." Lauretta squeaked, almost falling out of her chair. "The two of us and Hallie McMillian."  
  
"Good." He responded. "And the three of you shall have the cruciatus curse." Snape went back up to the front of the class and resumed teaching.  
  
The Weasley girl passed Lauretta note.  
  
Meet me in the library during lunch.  
  
Was the cryptic message. Lauretta nodded showing her consent.  
  
During her next class, Divination, Lauretta could barely focus. Professor Patil for some strange reason favoured Lauretta and so she didn't notice Lauretta's lack of attention to her teachings. Lauretta was distracted by several things, the greatest which was the attack on the student yesterday. Every time there was a lull in the background noise she would hear the anguished screams echoing inside her brain. There was no real reason it should be bothering her. She didn't know the student, she hadn't seen the attack, it wasn't echoing through everyone else's brain.  
  
"Your inner eye is very clouded today." Professor Patil stated, startling Lauretta out of her reverie.  
  
"Umm. yes." Lauretta said sheepishly realizing that she hadn't even opened her star charts that the rest of the class was currently pouring over.  
  
The way Patil looked at Lauretta gave her the uncanny feeling that she was looking at her thoughts, and Lauretta blushed, knowing that she had also been thinking about Randall too.  
  
"I understand today, Miss Tonks, why don't you come over here and I'll fix you a cup of ginseng tea and maybe you'll feel better."  
  
"Alright." Lauretta said hesitantly. She was certain that the other students would think she was a suck up, but she was grateful for Professor Patil's concern, the last thing she wanted to do was try focusing on class. She followed the professor over to a corner of the room where she was poured a steamy cup of tea. She carefully prepared it, adding just the write amount of sugar and honey and was grateful for the distraction.  
  
When she was done Patil pointed to an ugly grey couch against the wall, swept up in the shadows. Lauretta sat on it wearily as the shadows made it look ancient, but when she sunk back into it, she was surprised to find it was the comfiest couch she'd ever sat on in her life.  
  
"Would you like to tell me what's bothering you?" Patil asked, noting that Lauretta was now comfortable.  
  
"Well, it's kind of stupid really." Lauretta said quickly looking down.  
  
"Ahh. that's what you think, but your unconscious seems to be telling you otherwise doesn't it?" Patil said a smile playing at her lips. Lauretta was unsure as to whether or not she was joking with her. She hated when that happened. she never understood anything like that EVER.  
  
"If it is bothering you so much it must be something serious." Patil said scooting closer to the edge of her seat in excitement. "We should maybe analyze what your inner sub conscience is trying to tell you."  
  
Lauretta sighed inwardly. How had she even thought that Professor Patil would understand? Of course everything would have to do with divination. "Well I can't stop thinking about the attack yesterday." she muttered quietly, staring down at her hands that were now folded neatly in her lap. She sighed again, and looked up to meet the professor's eyes.  
  
Patil's misty expression quickly solidified into a normal expression of logic and sense. "Ah yes." She said quickly, her voice firm and reassuring. "That is quite understandable dear. I was rather surprised myself that we haven't had more kids becoming upset about that. It was very traumatic to have one of our students attacked. I am pretty sure that it just didn't actually register in most of the students here. Here drinks some more tea, and I will write you a notice to have the rest of the day off."  
  
Lauretta stared at her astounded. She could have the rest of the day off? Yes she did have a feeling that more students would have it register after this occurrence. But far be it for Lauretta to argue about getting out of divination. She quickly drank her tea, and then descended from the tower back into the main corridors of the school.  
  
She went back to the Ravenclaw common room slowly, taking the time to look at most of the paintings, something that she barely ever had time to do, as she was busy scurrying off to her several activities, or to go to the library. She couldn't ever remember having a random day off like this.  
  
Her heart sank when she remembered that she would have to go meat the gothic Weasley during lunch. On a day such as this, that was the last thing she wanted to do. Lauretta had no doubt that the abnormal Weasley girl would be mean, and vulgar, and would most likely make an easy enemy, now that Lauretta and Randall were becoming closer friends.  
  
Lauretta just settled down in front of the now cold fireplace in the commons room, and studied the carved marble chimney, gazing over the depictions of various fairy tales that she had been told by a muggleborn acquaintance that were of purely muggle origin. She was rather curious about the various depictions, but had been to shy to ask anyone to hear the stories.  
  
As Lauretta sat there, she felt herself beginning to become drowsy. Just as she was about to nod off, Hallie came into the room.  
  
"I saw him." Hallie uttered, her face white, with that she collapsed on the floor, waking Lauretta up abruptly. 


	5. The Invisible Wall

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter Characters, I just write about them.and Dru once we get to him is purely Carissa's but she gave me permission to lend him out for awhile. Unless I decide not to use Dru. which is rather debatable.but I'm not sure.  
  
Author's Note: Hmph. I didn't get any reviews last time, well I got one from Morgan but she doesn't really count cus I know her. and she's read my stories before. *is sad*. So if you read this. PLEASE Review. nasty ones are better than no reviews. because if you don't even leave a nasty review I have no way of fixing it now do I? so just please review. thank you. Oh yhea, and I couldn't figure out how to get things to italicize. I thought the itext/i would work. but it didn't' seem to. so if anyone could tell me how to, that would me much appreciated!  
  
Lauretta ran over to where Hallie was sprawled on the floor quickly taking out her wand. "REVILLE!" She shouted as she did so. and nothing happened. She shook Hallie lightly, but once again nothing happened. .oh dear. "Hallie, please wake up," She said nudging her. When nothing happened, Lauretta was even more perplexed. should she leave her here while she went to get Madam Pomfrey? Should she get someone to stay with Hallie while she ran? Should someone go get Madam Pomfrey while she stayed?  
  
Without even beings sure what she had decided, Lauretta left the room and left the Ravenclaw dormitories. As she watched the picture close behind her she realized that she had no recollection of what the password was. I guess I've made my choice now. then.  
  
Lauretta began running down the corridor towards the infirmary. Or she thought she was running towards the infirmary anyways; she was so frightened for Hallie that she didn't pay much attention to where she was going. When she was finally stopped by an invisible wall that began to giggle when she ran into it, she was utterly lost within the castle.  
  
She ran her hand along the wall to figure out where the corner was, embarrassing herself immensely as the wall let out a hearty guffaw. She was very glad that there was no one there to hear it.  
  
When she found the corner she turned and was surprised to see that there was someone there who was watching the wall with horror. She quickly turned back so she was on the other side of the wall. She peeked around cautiously to get a good look at the man, and to her surprise it was the new Potions professor. His blond hair was askew and he looked as if he had just been running, as he was panting rather loudly. As she peeked around the corner around him she watched, horrified, as he drew out his wand and pointed it directly towards her, although he didn't seem to actually see her.  
  
"Come out whoever you are." He demanded menacingly.  
  
Lauretta froze, paralyzed with fear. He was a teacher. shouldn't she listen to him? But what if he did something to her? She didn't know him at all. and what if he thought she was doing something, or what if he had done something that she wasn't supposed to see? What if she didn't come out and he cursed her? She turned around to see if there was anywhere she could hide, and to her surprise Hermione Granger was standing right behind her, a finger held up to her lips, motioning Lauretta to stay quiet.  
  
Hermione took out her wand and waved it at the invisible wall, miraculously making an arc where they could see through it on the other side in order to see the professor clearly.  
  
He looked extremely flustered and he kept running his hand through his hair. It appeared that the fact that no one had appeared had confused him more, and he turned around, and Lauretta could tell he had lost the direction that the noise was coming from. She almost felt sorry for the man, but then she reminded herself of his harsh tone, and the sympathy dissolved.  
  
Lauretta was also extremely puzzled by the current behavior of the headmistress. She, of all people, shouldn't be fearful of confronting the new professor. She must've hired him. Lauretta was sure that she would NEVER understand grownups.  
  
It was then that Lauretta suddenly remembered why she was there in the first place: she was going to Madame Pomfrey's for Hallie. Lauretta tugged on Hermione's sleeve to get her attention. Hermione looked at her quizzically but put her finger to her lips again. Lauretta tugged at her sleeve again. Hermione glanced at the professor again and then back at Lauretta. She could tell by the urgent look on Lauretta's face that it was important. She began to walk briskly away from the professor motioning for Lauretta to follow.  
  
They turned a corner to find themselves face to face with none other but Harry Potter.  
  
"How does he seem?" Harry asked, giving Lauretta a look before he focused all of his attention on Hermione.  
  
"I'm not sure." Hermione whispered back. "I can't really tell for now, but you need to keep an eye on him, I have to talk to this student."  
  
Harry just nodded and went off in the direction Hermione and Lauretta came from. Lauretta turned around to stare at him.  
  
"Yes, that is Harry Potter, and whatever else you are going to ask about him is none of your business, is that clear?" Hermione said turning towards Lauretta.  
  
Lauretta just nodded numbly. "Yes ma'am."  
  
"Now is there a reason you need to talk to me?"  
  
"Yes," Lauretta replied, forgetting totally about Harry Potter and the new teacher. "Hallie McMillian fainted in the Ravenclaw common room, and she won't wake up with the waking spell, something must be wrong with her."  
  
"I see." Replied Hermione grimly. Well you go get Madame Pomfrey, and I will go find Hallie, okay?"  
  
"Yes'm." Lauretta responded, then scampered down the corridor.  
  
"HEY, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" a familiar looking redheaded boy yelled when Hallie ran straight into him. She looked up at him, blushing furiously and wishing it had been one of the other two triplets.  
  
Giovanni glared down at her, his face turning dangerously scarlet. Lauretta imagined that her face was probably about the same shade, but hers with embarrassment. Just looking at Giovanni when he was in this kind of mood puzzled Lauretta greatly. How could Giovanni, such an angry impatient person even be related to nice Randall?  
  
"You're always such a klutz." Giovanni stormed, "It's no wonder you have no friends. I don't even know why Randy pities you." With that remark, Giovanni strode off. Lauretta just stared after him. Randy just pities me? Is that the only reason he was friendly yesterday?  
  
Lauretta felt tears forming in her eyes. She continued to run through the halls towards the infirmary, trying to brush those thoughts away from her.  
  
Think of Hallie, you're going to get Madame Pomfry for Hallie.  
  
But Lauretta couldn't keep the tears from running down her face as she ran. When she reached the infirmary door she quickly wiped her tears from her face, and took a deep breath and entered.  
  
The first thing Lauretta saw when she entered was "him" as Lauretta had called him. She knew exactly what Hallie had meant now, and she had the incredible desire to throw up. It was the boy who had been attacked last night. It wasn't that he looked disgusting in his appearance, he wasn't that battered, it was just the terrified look plastered to his face.  
  
The boy was still unconscious, and it was apparent that in his dreaming, he was thinking about the attack, and reliving ever horrific moment of it. Periodically he would twitch, and his lip was big and puffy, from where he had apparently been biting it. His hands were also bound to the bed, as Lauretta knew was for his own safety.  
  
She looked away, but almost immediately had to look back again. She was fascinated by this type of thing; after all, she did want to be a mediwizard when she was older. She walked closer to him, in order to get a better look, and was shocked when his eyes flew open. He stared blankly at her, not seeing, and his mouth opened in a silent scream. Lauretta stopped where she was paralyzed by the look. She began to tremble violently, as she had never seen a sight such as this.  
  
Maybe this is what Mom is trying to shield me from. she thought vaguely in the back of her head.  
  
"Madame Pomfrey?" she called out loud tentatively. She glanced back at the boy as there was no answer. "Madame?" 


	6. Unexpected Expectations

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter Characters, I just write about them.  
  
Author's Note: Still no reviews.. Cus Morgan. STILL doesn't quite count despite the fact that she chooses to post under another name.. But yes. Review. Please. If anyone actually reads my stories anyways.  
  
The manor was dark and cold where Demetrius Johnson rested. He sat in front of the roaring fire place in his emerald green chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He was tired, not just tired in the physical sense, he was emotionally tired too. He had worked hard all of his life, despite the fact that he had inherited his family's fortune, yet it had amounted to nothing, for he had no one to share it with.  
  
He closed his eyes briefly and thought of Claire, Claire who had been so beautiful, so happy and so loving. Why hadn't he seen how he'd loved her? Before she'd disappeared? Why had he been so mean to her? His last memory of her was of her crying, after he'd told her that he could never love her. And then the phone call came, a few hours later, saying that she had just been kidnapped. The poor girl, she was just a squib.  
  
Demetrius sighed and felt a tear forming in his eye for Claire. He moved to wipe it away, not willing to be weak, but then thought to himself. Isn't Claire worth you crying over? And he let it fall.  
  
"What's that?" A voice said from just behind Demetrius. "A tear? You make me sick sometimes."  
  
Demetrius didn't even turn around. He knew who it was. He also knew that a wand was pointed right at him, and he wouldn't be able to draw his wand in time to do anything.  
  
"Crucio." The voice said.  
  
Demetrius welcomed the blackness that came along with the pain, and he let it take him.  
  
*********  
  
Several miles away a boy screamed and woke to find himself facing a petrified fifth year Ravenclaw in the infirmary of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
  
The boy had no idea where he was when he woke up and immediately tried to get up. He was startled to find himself bound to the bed and he looked at the girl who stood there, menacingly. She backed away in fear, without thinking of the fact that he couldn't hurt her.  
  
"Where am I?" He demanded.  
  
"In the Hogwarts Infirmary." Lauretta stuttered out backing up even further as she pushed a curl out of her face. She ran into a desk and shrieked in surprise.  
  
The boy looked around again, taking it all in, and confirming that it was indeed the Hogwarts Infirmary. "Oh, right then." He replied. "Sorry I scared you."  
  
At this, Lauretta let a breath out that she hadn't known that she was holding. "It's okay." She whispered, still sounding terrified. "I mean, after, well. its okay."  
  
He pulled at the straps holding him onto the bed in vain. "Do you think you could let me loose?" He inquired of Lauretta, looking up at her with hopeful blue eyes.  
  
"I don't think I really should." She said, biting her lip as she continued to cling to the desk that she had hit. "I mean, not without Madame Pomfrey's permission."  
  
He lay back against his pillow, defeated. "I understand."  
  
Lauretta was overcome with pity for him, but she remained terrified as before. Although, in light of this renewed knowledge of his helplessness, Lauretta pushed a chair over to his bedside and sat next to him.  
  
"So who are you?" The boy asked companionably, seemingly resigned to his state.  
  
"Lauretta Tonks." She replied crisply. She held out her hand to shake, noticed once again that his hands were bound, and lowered it quickly, blushing intently.  
  
The boy tittered slightly at her shame. "It's okay, I really understand."  
  
Lauretta just continued to look down at her hands.He's worse than a Weasley.  
  
"My name is Jack." He changed the subject abruptly. "Jack Mayors."  
  
"Pleased to meet you." Lauretta stuttered. She bit her lip again softly in the place where a familiar bruise inside her mouth keeping the secret of the nervous habit, why was it that she could never get over her shyness? No matter how nice someone seemed, no matter how welcoming? She thought of how she'd been starting to be warm with Randy, and then Giovanni's words came crashing through her brain. "I don't even know why Randy pities you." Lauretta dug her heels into the floor in an effort to anchor herself down; she was not running away. "What year are you in?" she asked tentatively.  
  
"Sixth year." He said sighing slightly. "I wish I was in fifth; I would love to try for the Hogwarts champion. It always seems to miss me. It's really not fair."  
  
"I'm in fifth year." Lauretta stated quietly, she dug her heels into the floor a bit harder. She glanced down, letting her hair fall over her eyes.  
  
"Are you going to try for champion?" Jack asked. Lauretta glanced up at him, to see that he was looking her over and sizing her up, she blushed again and looked back down. She wasn't used to having boys look at her that way. In fact she didn't think that most boys even noticed that she existed.  
  
"I was considering it." She said, and she heard how weak her voice sounded. Her tones were becoming more and more dulcet as she spoke, and she looked down once again. She figured he must be thinking what a bad champion she'd make, no courage. Well she wasn't a Gryffindor, what did everyone expect?  
  
"I think you'd have a fair chance." Jack said. Lauretta was expecting him to say something along those lines, but the tone at which he said it shocked her. He truly sounded as if he had faith that she could lead Hogwarts to victory.  
  
And why couldn't I? She asked herself. You don't need to be courageous to be clever enough to think of the spells. And she was known for being smart. "I hope so." She said, returning his smile gingerly. She had a sinking feeling in the back of her head that she wasn't being careful enough with her feelings. After all, Randy would've said the same thing wouldn't he?  
  
**********  
  
A couple floors away from Jack and Lauretta, a girl woke up to find herself face to face with the Headmistress of the school. Her eyes widened as they focused on the kindly face, and she stuttered as she moved to get up. "Am... am I in... in trouble?" she asked, looking from Hermione's concerned face to that of Madame Pomfrey's.  
  
"No dear." Madame Pomfrey assured her. "But there does appear to be something wrong with you I'm afraid."  
  
Hallie sighed as if she almost already knew that this was coming. She was used to having various things being wrong with her, and being in and out of the hospital/infirmary wouldn't faze her. It might be enough to scare off her new friend Lauretta though.  
  
With the thought of Lauretta, the memory of what had happened sparked in Hallie's brain. "Where is Lauretta?" She asked, while in her thoughts she was thinking, 'oh dear, I scared her off already.'  
  
"Well, she ran off to go get help after you passed off, and when she found me she went to the Infirmary in order to find Madame Pomfrey. Since I found Poppy on my way here, I assume that Lauretta is waiting for us impatiently at the Infirmary."  
  
"Really?" Hallie asked and Hermione nodded.  
  
After Hermione, Madame Pomfrey, and Hallie had arrived at the infirmary, Lauretta suddenly remembered that she had to meet the Gothic Weasley at the library. She looked at her watch and sighed. "Oh dear," she muttered as Jack watched on in amusement. "I'm late. Are you sure you're okay?" she asked Hallie.  
  
"Mmhmmm." Hallie replied.  
  
"Well then I really have to go, I'm sorry, I'll talk to you later. Bye guys!" she said to Hallie and Jack.  
  
Lauretta positively flew down the corridors towards the library. She knew that people in the hall were probably starting to wonder about why she was running so much today, but she didn't have time to stop and think if she wanted that kind of attention because she didn't want to unleash the wrath of the Gothic Weasley.  
  
When she got there the Weasley was sitting at a table by herself a very aloof expression on her face. "Where've you been?" She asked when Lauretta, breathing heavily because of her sprint, slid into the only other chair at the table.  
  
Lauretta cringed slightly, noticing that Gothica didn't even bother to grace her with a look. "I was at the infirmary." She replied softy, not actually expecting the other girl to hear her.  
  
Gothic Weasley did hear her though, and her ears perked up with interest. "Really. why?"  
  
"Well Hallie came up to our dorm earlier and passed out." Lauretta explained, "And so I went to go find Madame Pomfrey to go help her, and I ended up waiting at the infirmary, and meeting the boy who was attacked yesterday."  
  
The Weasley narrowed her eyes at Lauretta at the mention of the boy. "Did you think I actually cared what your lame excuse was?" She asked. "You're wasting my time, lets get to work."  
  
Lauretta sighed, once again. what had she expected? 


	7. Boiling

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter Characters, I just write about them...  
  
A/N: I GOT TWO NEW REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Mollie! and Laraeliae Black! I appreciate it! And I don't like Ham... just cus it tastes funny... And this Chapter is a tad short, because I've been really busy and I suddenly realized how long it's been since I updated and so I felt the need to update. No matter how short it is.  
  
As Lauretta and the Gothic Weasley were working silently in the library through their free period after lunch, Faustina and Gertrude came and sat at the table next to them, giggling to each other. Gothica just rolled her eyes and ignored them, but Lauretta couldn't help but be apprehensive that they were going to start some sort of trouble.  
  
"Oh look." Faustina finally said, in her high shrill trill. "It's the Freak, and the Geek." She twirled a fat blonde sausage roll curl on one of her fingers, rolling her beady brown eyes back into her head slightly.  
  
Gertrude snorted. "Yhea, Lauretta, I guess you finally figured out that you were never going to get any of the Weasley boys, so you decided to settle for the next best thing eh? But of all the Weasley girls you had to pick, why'd you pick her? I mean, there are so many of them, you could've had your pick of the liter. Why'd you pick the runt?"  
  
The Gothic Weasley stood up at this, and Lauretta noticed for the first time that she was rather small, especially compared to such buxom and plump girls as Faustina and Gertrude were. Lauretta was still terrified that Gothica would turn on her despite the fact that Lauretta knew that she was most likely stronger, so she grabbed up all of her books and ran off out of the library. She ran down the corridor again, running full on into another red headed boy.  
  
Lauretta closed her eyes, and breathed deeply, preparing herself for the confrontation that was sure to follow, but instead of being Giovanni again, it was Randall.  
  
"Hi." He said, smiling innocently at her. "Gee and Lee and I had the greatest idea for our project. We have one of the aspects of the Crutatius curse, so we decided we're going to go interview the boy who got attacked." He paused. "You look slightly ruffled. Did something just happen?"  
  
Slightly ruffled?!? All of a sudden Lauretta was mad, furious, enraged. So much had happened to her today, she couldn't even begin to try to tell him about it, nor did she want to. He wouldn't listen anyway, he only pitied her, and someone's pity wasn't enough to make them want to listen to all of that.  
  
It was his entire fault. He hadn't saved a seat for her in Defense Against the Dark Arts, so she'd had to sit next to the Gothic Weasley, then she'd been stuck being partners with her. Then she'd run into Giovanni, who'd been unusually mad at Lauretta since she started talking to Randy more often. And then while she was talking to Jack in the hospital she kept feeling as if she was violating some understood law between her and Randall, although she wasn't even sure if they should have that considering he might just pity her. And because she was scared of that she wasn't as nice to Jack as she should have been.  
  
And then, ooo, Faustina and Gertrude just made her blood boil. And now he was going to go interview Jack? The idea of it was totally stupid. As if he wanted to talk about it? She had a vague feeling that Jack wouldn't be as nice next time she visited him after he'd been interviewed by the unfeeling Weasley triplets.  
  
"Yhea, something happened alright." She said stiffly, brushing past him.  
  
"What?" He asked, grabbing her wrist to stop her.  
  
"Why don't you ask Giovanni?" Lauretta spat out. "Or ask your Gothic relative in there, or Jack." She laughed menacingly. "Yhea, ask Jack, that's a great idea. Let go of me." She said wrenching herself free. She ran up the stair case, leaving Randy at the bottom, confused and perplexed. 


	8. Hiding

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter Characters, I just write about them... But I do own Princess Elizabeth, if she should try and make her way into this story....  
  
Author's Note: Same as last chapter! I'm still excited though about getting reviews...Thanks you guys, you really made my day... I emailed Morgan right when I got them and was just like OMG!!! IGOT REAL REVIEWS!!!!!! And also thanks to Nell... who kindly betaed my fic for me... as I'm horrendous with grammatical things.  
  
Demetrius felt the cold air blow against his face and attempted to open his eyes. But they just weren't working. A heavy weight was over them, and he figured that he must've been blindfolded. He attempted to reach up and feel the blind fold, and was not surprised to find that his hands were also bound. He sighed inwardly and settled down on what he thought to be stone floor, his cheek pressing against the rock. He knew it would be futile to fight.  
  
"I think he's awake now." He heard a female voice, and he felt himself tense up. "Should we bring her in, just in case?"  
  
Another voice spoke, the one that had cursed Demetrius earlier, "Yes, bring her in. But make sure she is silenced."  
  
Silenced? Were they talking about Claire? Demetrius fought the urge to get up and thrust himself in the direction of the voice; he knew better. He would have to find some other way out of this mess.  
  
In the next weeks, Lauretta thrust herself into her studies, ignoring any Weasley excepting when she had to, and even avoiding Hallie, who seemed to be becoming friendlier and friendlier with Jack. If Quidditch had still existed, Lauretta would have devoted her time to that, but without it she was at a loss, and didn't know what to do with her time, so she prowled around the halls, getting under classmen in trouble when they broke any rules. She was soon known as the strictest of the Prefects, and any under classman was terrified of her, but she didn't care. She would give Giovanni someone to reckon with.  
  
One day as she snapped at a terrified first year that had run into her, she finally realized how hypocritical she was being, and she ran to the nearest door and entered, finding a small dimly lit room equipped with a comfortable sofa, and a box of tissues, just waiting for her.  
  
She flopped down on the big pink sofa, not even bothering to ponder why she'd never seen such a room before and began sobbing. What had gone wrong? She'd been mostly happy her first four years here, and suddenly, after a mishap with a Weasley, of all people, she couldn't control her temper?  
  
She sat there crying for around twenty minutes before she finally calmed down. She realized that there was no use in continually avoiding all Weasleys as there were too many of them. But what could she do now? She had been so beastly to everyone; she would be shocked if anyone would actually talk to her. But she knew that the only way to improve things would be to try.  
  
She stepped out of the room, and blinked blindly at the light in the corridors. Because she was blinded she ran directly into Professor Fulbright, the crazed potions teacher. She had avoided contact with him as much as possible since the incident with the invisible wall, and she found out that she was right in doing so.  
  
"Watch where you are going, young lady!" He spat at her. She blinked again, getting a better look at him. "Where did you come from anyways?" He asked suspiciously. Lauretta glanced back at the door where she'd come from, and noticed that it had disappeared.  
  
"Umm... nowhere..." She mumbled nervously. Fulbright was already known among the students for hating the magical tricks the castle provided in every corridor. Lauretta had a hunch that it was mostly because of his encounter with the invisible wall, but it was still slightly strange, that a Hogwarts Professor would be so against magical gimmicks as he was.  
  
"Well, Missy, You couldn't have just popped up here out of nowhere. Last I checked, wizards of your age weren't allowed to Apparate around the grounds." He snarled.  
  
"Well, see, there was a door right there." Lauretta squeaked nervously. "And there was a room, but the door just moved, and I don't know-"  
  
"Whole rooms don't just get up and leave you silly girl. Stop lying to me." Fulbright grabbed onto Lauretta's arm. "You'll have to pay the consequences for lying to me."  
  
"Wait-"Lauretta started but she was cut off by Lee Weasley, who seemed to pop out of nowhere.  
  
"Ha! I found you! You're it!" He said before starting to scamper off.  
  
"Wait a second young man!" Professor Fulbright yelled after him. "You come back here this instant."  
  
Lee turned around, looking slightly guilty and began to walk back towards Fulbright and Lauretta. Lauretta stared at him confusedly, and Lee winked at her. "Yes Professor?" He said in a voice dripping with so much innocence that only a complete dolt would be able to take it for anything but guilty.  
  
"What exactly did you mean just now by coming up to this young lady and yelling in an unusually loud voice for a school corridor, "You're it!"?" Fulbright asked glaring at Lee. Lauretta felt his grip tighten on her arm and she winced.  
  
"Well, I guess I can't lie to you Professor. It's just that Lauretta, and I and some others were playing this muggle game called Hide and Go Seek. Professor Granger just explained it to me this morning, and I really wanted to have a go, and Lauretta told me it was a horrible idea, but I didn't listen to her, and she was just playing because I threatened to give her lots of zits with a hex if she didn't, and-"  
  
"Alright, that's enough." Fulbright said cutting him off abruptly. "Just give me one reason why I should believe you."  
  
"Hey, Lee, why did you stop looking for the rest of us?" Giovanni interrupted popping out of nowhere and taking the chance to wink at Lauretta. "We had a good game going, oh hi Professor."  
  
"Well I found Lauretta, but Professor Fulbright here seems to be taking her off for some sort of punishment." Lee informed him. "What were you doing anyways Lauretta, that the Professor is mad at you?"  
  
"I, er.. uh.." Lauretta glanced nervously at Fulbright. "I'm not really sure." She bit her lip, and thought carefully, what would Lee or Giovanni say if they were in her place right here? "Why exactly are you mad at me anyways Professor?" She said firmly.  
  
"For appearing out of nowhere!" He said, looking around at the wall again slightly flustered. Giovanni, Lee and Lauretta all turned to stare at the wall likewise, yet no door appeared where Lauretta had exited before.  
  
"Oh quit joshing Professor." Giovanni said light heartedly. "We all know that no one can Apparate on Hogwarts ground, and she couldn't just have come out of nowhere. She was just hiding for our game."  
  
"But we'll stop playing now if you really don't like it Professor. But it's a super fun game, you should try it sometime." Lee added smoothly. "Come on Lauretta, you were right, let's go do something less rambunctious." He took Lauretta's arm, attempting to pull her away from Fulbright, but he was still gripping onto Lauretta tightly.  
  
"Hey Professor," Giovanni said, his face going serious as he looked at Lauretta's pained and worried face. "Can you let Lauretta go now? You just said she wasn't doing anything wrong."  
  
Professor Fulbright looked down at Lauretta, and Lauretta looked back, directly into his eyes. His eyes looked wrong some how, as if they didn't belong on his face; they were somewhat inhuman in their shade of green that couldn't be natural. Lauretta felt the incredible desire to make hers look like that, but she had to restrain her gift, which sometimes proved a difficult task. Along with being inhuman, his eyes were puzzled and vague, reinforcing the idea that she had that something was radically wrong with him. A wave of fear washed over her as he finally let go of her arm and Lee carefully pulled her away from him.  
  
"Thanks." Lauretta said, as soon as they turned the corner and were out of sight.  
  
"No problem." Lee and Giovanni said in unison. "We would have helped anyone get away from THAT guy." Giovanni added.  
  
Lee elbowed Giovanni quickly, but Lauretta still heard the remark, and blushed. She turned around, still not quite trusting herself to speak instead of snapping at them as she'd grown accustomed to doing.  
  
"Look, Lauretta." Giovanni started quietly. "I'm really sorry about what I said to you earlier. Lee and I were just jealous of the attention that Randy was giving you. I mean it's always been the three of us being best friends. We've never needed anyone else before. And then suddenly, Randy started talking about you all the time. And, well... we just didn't like it, that's all." Giovanni rubbed his toe on the floor uncomfortably.  
  
"And now, Randy's really miserable, and he doesn't know what to do about it, and it's our entire fault. And he really likes you." Lee continued for him.  
  
"Really?" Lauretta asked, feeling a smile coming on.  
  
Jack looked around the deserted infirmary room. The beds were all perfectly spotless and white, lined up in their perfect rows. He glanced at the paintings on the walls, noting that they were all void of life and movement. The paintings were just as sick of him as he was of them. He hated being stuck here for so long, until he was absolutely healed. He knew what the teachers were really worried about. They were worried about what the students would ask him. They were worried about what he would tell them. Besides Lauretta and Hallie, he had had no other visitors. He had a suspicion that it was because no one else was allowed in.  
  
He got up quietly, testing his legs as he hadn't walked on them since he'd been in the Hospital wing. He was happy to find that they were sturdy, and he moved quickly to the door. He pulled at it and was angered to find out that it was locked. He whipped out his wand and yelled "Alohamora." The lock clicked and the door swung open. He was amazed that they thought he'd be stuck when he knew such a simple spell.  
  
Jack entered the hall quietly for he knew that he would get into trouble if he was caught wandering around the halls at night, but he didn't really care. All he wanted was a bite of real food. He wandered carelessly towards the painting of fruit that he knew led to the kitchen, acting with his stomach, not his head. He was so careless that he ran straight into a fully grown person.  
  
"Lumos," The person said, pointing his wand towards Jack so he could see his face. Jack also caught sight of the man's face, and he shuddered. "Knox." 


	9. Hogsmede

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter Characters, I just write about them…

A/N: There were a lot of questions that I can't answer all at once now, but I will try and put them all in the story at some point, and I changed the first chapter and added a paragraph or so to the second chapter stating that Lauretta is a Metamamorphagus (I have no idea how to spell that and I'm too lazy to look it up right now).

The next day was a Saturday and the fifth years first trip to Hogsmede of the year. Lauretta quickly let Hallie in on her plan and they excitedly plotted all during breakfast before leaving for Hogsmede. Just before they left Hallie suggested that they go visit Jack and ask him if there was anything that he wanted from Hogsmede.

Lauretta wasn't sure why, but she had a very bad feeling about going to visit Jack before they left, but she kept it to herself as they walked purposefully to the hospital wing. Hallie eagerly pushed open the door when they got there, and the two girls entered.

The scene that greeted them would have been perfectly normal to anyone else, but to the two of them, who had visited the hospital wing so many times in the past few days the scene was strange. All of the beds were empty.

"Oh," Hallie said quietly, "I guess he was allowed to go back to his dorm." She turned around to go, and Lauretta scanned the room quickly, trying hard to ignore the sick feeling she felt. Something was not right. "Maybe we'll see him at Hogsmede." Hallie continued, her tone brightening. "Come on!"

Lauretta and Hallie did not see Jack at Hogsmede anywhere, and Hallie made sure they looked everywhere. Finally, after a long day the two of them settled dejectedly in The Three Broom Sticks to rest.

As they got their butterbeers Lauretta scanned the room for any familiar faces. She caught sight of the Gothic Weasley sitting in a corner by herself, staring back at the two of them. Lauretta continued scanning the room, pretending like she hadn't seen her, buying time to decide whether or not she really wanted to go talk to her.

Within the past few weeks, they'd been civil enough to work on the project together, but Lauretta hadn't tried to have an actual conversation with her. Lauretta glanced at the girl again, thinking that even if they hadn't been very friendly, it was a shame that she was alone on one of their free days at Hogsmede. Lauretta knew from experience last year that being alone at Hogsmede was no fun whatsoever.

"Let's go talk to Carrie." She suggested to Hallie turning towards her. If Hallie says no, then I'll agree with her, if she agrees then we'll go, Lauretta thought to herself.

"Okay!" Hallie said brightly as she got up from their table. Lauretta sighed; she should have known that Hallie would think it was an excellent idea. No one ever really seemed to faze Hallie. But there was no backing out now.

Thankfully Lauretta didn't have to do much of the work. Hallie really did think it was an excellent idea and practically dragged Lauretta over to the table where Carrie sat. "Hi Carrie!" Hallie greeted her enthusiastically.

Carrie, who had been sporting a full on scowl when they'd walked over, failed at trying to hide her smile, as Hallie was beaming at her so openly. "Hi." She mumbled back. The three of them stood there awkwardly for a few minutes, trying to figure out some common grounds to talk about. "What did you guys buy?" Carrie finally added politely.

"Oh nothing really," Lauretta said, as Hallie immediately began dumping everything onto the table. Lauretta felt like sinking into a hole in the ground as Carrie eyed over their purchases. For some reason everything they'd bought so happily hours before seemed stupid and worthless when she looked at it through Carrie's eyes. But to Lauretta's surprise, Carrie picked through the objects with genuine interest.

"It looks like you two had fun." She said, staying polite.

"Oh yes, we did." Hallie agreed happily. "I'm a little worried about Jack though. Have you seen him at all?"

"Who's Jack?" Carrie asked, looking confused.

"The boy who was attacked," Lauretta explained quietly.

Lauretta had gauged Carrie's reaction well, and was not surprised as the girl's expression darkened into one of mistrust once again. "No I haven't seen him." Carrie replied icily, glaring back and forth between the two.

Hallie's face fell, and she looked noticeably disappointed. "Oh." Her face brightened slightly as she tried again. "Do you know him?" She asked eagerly.

Lauretta could not understand how Hallie could be so brave; the look that Carrie gave them made her want to crawl under the table. "Slightly." Carrie responded.

"Isn't he nice?" Hallie pressed on.

"Ummm, I think we should go." Lauretta said, standing up abruptly. "Come on Hallie."

"Oh but I haven't finished my butterbeer!" Hallie protested.

"Hallie please." Lauretta begged, too scared to look at Carrie.

"Oh alright." Hallie finally agreed. "I wanted to go and look around for Jack at the castle anyway. Bye Carrie!"

Lauretta had to practically drag Hallie out of the pub. Once outside they saw Madame Pomfrey running towards the pub. "Have you seen Professor Granger?" She asked quickly, looking worried.

"No." Lauretta replied, taking in the panting nurse whose face was flushed from running. She'd never seen the school nurse looking out of sorts before.

"Well the two of you run along back to school okay, and wait for me in the Infirmary. There's something we need to talk to you two about." She added before dashing off.

"You'd think Professors would have an easier way of communicating." Hallie said puzzledlly as they watched after her.

Lauretta sighed, wishing sometimes that Hallie were a bit more aware of what was going on around her. She had a feeling that Madame Pomfrey wanted to talk to them about Jack. She'd known all day that something was wrong.

They hurried off towards the school, and as they did, who should they meet but the Weasley triplets hurrying on their way to Hogsmede. Lauretta kept her head down, not sure if she should say anything, and hoping that Hallie for once would have the sense to keep her mouth shut. Hallie did know that her friend wanted to avoid a confrontation, but couldn't help it when Giovanni was the first to speak.

"Hi Lauretta!" He shouted, winking at her as she looked up. "How are you old pal?"

Lauretta smiled uncertainly at the three of them. "Fine thank you Giovanni." She replied.

"Aww, you two aren't going home already are you?" Lee asked sounding extremely disappointed.

"But the day's still so young!" Giovanni added.

"We've already had a long day though." Hallie said slowly, unsure of what Lauretta would want to do.

"We're actually kind of in a hurry to get back." Lauretta said quickly, still looking downwards.

"Well Randy, you didn't really want to come anyway right?" Lee said quickly. His eyes still sparkling as he plotted. "Maybe he could go back with you two, and you could find something more interesting to do?"

Giovanni laughed with his brother.

Lauretta and Randy were finally forced to meet each other's eyes. "Well, actually we were headed to the infirmary…" Lauretta continued, looking down again, upset that she still muddled everything.

"Oh, well. That's okay then." Randall muttered sullenly.

"Well maybe at Hogsmede Randy will find be injured and will end up at the infirmary and you can visit him." Giovanni grinned brightly.

Hallie laughed and the two of them turned to head back to the Infirmary. They could hear behind them Giovanni and Lee trying to explain to Randall that a simple fracture just wouldn't do, they'd have to make it something extraordinary.

Demetrius waited in the silence for some sort of noise that would alert him to what was going on, but nothing came for along while. He was surprised when the next voice that spoke was a soft female whisper. His ears perked up, hoping it was Claire, but the voice was the same one that had spoken before.

"We've got him." She whispered to some other person in the room.

"Really?" A male voice whispered back.

"No you fool, I'm just lying to you." The female voice replied, dripping with disdain. "Of course we've got him."

"Does… does he know yet?" The male voice asked.

"No." The female voice responded, back to being serious. She started to continue, but a door opened and she was cut short.

Were they talking about him? Demetrius wondered. He hated not being able to see who they were.

"Well, well, well." A new voice said, slicing through the air. Demetrius had to muster all his will power not to shudder at the newcomer. "I was wondering when they'd finally get you." More than not being able to see the other people, Demetrius hated not being able to talk back. He'd never been one for obedience. "I must admit, I overestimated you. I was hoping you'd kill a few more of these fools." The voice continued arrogantly. It was hard for Demetrius to believe that this man used to have been his best friend.

A/N2: Okay I admit it. This is an awful chapter. I felt really badly for not updating for about a year or so… so I just kind of wrote… and I didn't send it to anyone to edit it, so if the grammar sucks… also sorry. But at least I updated…


	10. The disappearance of Jack

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter Characters, I just write about them…

A/N: This chapter is still awful just like the last one… sorry… I'll get my grove back… school just finished, I just need to lighten up…

* * *

Lauretta and Hallie didn't have to wait long at the Infirmary before Madame Pomfrey and Professor Granger showed up. And to the surprise of Lauretta and Hallie, they were not alone. Instead they were accompanied by none other than Harry Potter. Hallie stared at him in awe, but Lauretta wasn't as astonished this time.

"Harry this is Hallie McMillian and Lauretta Tonks." Hermione introduced them quickly.

"Ahh, you're Tonks' daughter." Harry said shaking her hand heartily. Lauretta wished her Mom told her that she knew these people.

"Well, Lauretta, Hallie, I'm afraid we have some bad news." Hermione started, looking between the two of them gravely. Lauretta had known it was coming all along.

"What is it?" Hallie asked, innocent as ever.

"Well…" Hermione started, her tone going soft. "I'm afraid your friend Jack has gone missing."

"Missing?" Hallie asked faintly, her deep brown eyes wide. "You mean like he's hiding missing?" She looked around the room quickly, as if expecting Jack to pop out and yell surprise at the five of them.

"Well, we were hoping maybe you two would know about that." Harry said quickly.

"Why would we know anything?" Lauretta asked quickly, her eyes widening as she looked at the grave faces of the three.

"Well, dear." Madame Pomfrey spoke up, "We were hoping optimistically that maybe Jack had left of his own will."

"How else do you think he would have left?" Hallie asked, still uncertain of what they were trying to imply.

The three of them stared at Hallie glumly, and it was finally Harry that spoke to confirm Laurettta's suspicions. "I'm afraid we think he's been kidnapped."

A thump came at this news, and the group looked over to see Hallie huddled on the floor peacefully. She'd either fainted or fallen asleep.

* * *

Lauretta left the hospital wing much more tired than she should have been in the late afternoon. Hallie had thankfully just fallen asleep, but Lauretta almost wished that it had been something more so they wouldn't have had to go through all of the questions asked of them by Harry. She understood that it was for the good of Jack, but she really didn't want to have to go through every conversation she'd ever had with him trying to prod for hidden meanings behind every word. And she still didn't think they'd gotten anywhere with it. Harry had refused to tell her whether or not they knew why Jack had been attacked the first time, and she was overcome with the desire to find out for herself. Her first thoughts were on talking to Carrie. But first she had to get up the courage.

Lauretta headed towards the Great Hall, to get an early start on dinner, in a cloud of thought, not noticing the man that followed her. Granted he was rather far behind and he hung in the many shadows that flitted about the school, some in corners where they should be, and some dancing around the walls, and annoying the paintings. But with so many rambunctious shadows it was easy for her to miss his presence.

The man was waiting for a chance to corner her when no one was in sight, but for being a Hogsmede day and one of the last pretty days of the season, there were an annoying amount of students wandering around the castle and getting in his way. He was just about to pounce on his prey when on of the Weasley triplets appeared to talk to Lauretta. The man watched carefully as they talked, hoping that the conversation would end with them going their separate ways, but he was dismayed when they headed on to the Great Hall together. He decided to give up; he had other business to attend to. He'd get to her later.

Lauretta had no idea that she should have been very grateful to the appearance of Randall Weasley, but since she knew nothing of her stalker, she was slightly dismayed to find him wandering through the castle.

"Hi." He said shyly when they came up to each other.

"Hi." She replied, shifting her feet. She remembered what Giovanni and Lee had said about Randall being miserable, but she still didn't know how to go about things. "How was Hogsmede?" She continued carefully.

"Oh it was all right." He replied glancing down at his shoes.

"You didn't get injured I see?" She added a hint of amusement in her voice.

He finally chuckled. "No, I didn't, thankfully. I was pretty worried with those two."

They smiled at each other. "Do you want to go get something to eat in the Great Hall he asked?"

She nodded happily and the two of them headed off together.

Upon entering the great hall, Lauretta was surprised to see that Harry was still around. He was sitting at the teacher's table talking animatedly with Hermione.

"Look it's Harry!" Randall said turning excitedly to Lauretta when he saw the two of them. He grabbed Lauretta's hand and pulled her towards the table. "I'll introduce you to him." All shyness was gone as they ran towards the table. Lauretta on the other hand had a sick feeling in her stomach, as it would be hard to explain to Randall how she'd already met Harry and spent over an hour with him just that afternoon.

"Hey Randy!" Harry interrupted his own conversation excitedly when he saw who was running towards the front. He'd been greatly frustrated with all of the people who'd been coming towards him within the last half hour who continually asked him if he was really Harry Potter. A friendly and familiar face was quite welcome.

"Hello Harry, what are you doing here?" Randall asked. "And this is my friend Lauretta Tonks."

"Yes we've met." Harry said quickly, smiling at Lauretta. Lauretta beamed back at him because Randy has just called her his friend.

But Randall was caught on those words as Lauretta had feared that he would be. "You've met?" He asked, frowning slightly.

"Oh yes we met just today in fact." Harry explained quickly. "I had to ask Lauretta a few questions about something."

"Oh." Randall said, his frown disappearing. But Lauretta knew that she wouldn't hear the last of it. She knew what happened when you perked the curiosity of a Weasley.

* * *

"So what were you talking with Harry about?" Randy asked catching up with her later in the hallway.

Lauretta bit her lip… they hadn't told her that she couldn't tell anyone had they? "Let's go somewhere to talk about it." She said, not wanting just anyone to be able to overhear their conversation in the hall.

Randall looked slightly confused, but nodded his agreement anyway.

They headed over to the library where the found an abandoned corner to talk about it. "The boy who was attacked on the carriage ride over here." She started. "He disappeared yesterday, and since Hallie and I made friends with him he was wondering what we knew."

"Oh." Randall said slowly. She looked away, anticipating his reaction to be the worst. "That's awful! He just disappeared? Any idea why?" He continued.

Lauretta looked up to make sure that Randall wasn't mocking her. "Harry said he thinks that he's been kidnapped." She answered.

"In Hogwarts? How would someone get it?" He glanced around nervously as if worried a kidnapper was going to jump out and attack him. "Wow."

* * *

"Take him to the room." The voice instructed.

Demetrius felt cold hands pick him up by his shoulders and he fought his impulse to squirm. He knew how useless it was to fight and it wouldn't do to lose all of his composure just yet. He felt a cold breath on his face and knew that his ex best friends was standing just beside him.

In a few minutes he felt himself be dropped and seconds later another body was dropped next to him. He heard a soft whimper and he knew it really was Claire this time. But he refused to let himself show any emotion towards her. She would be safer if she meant nothing to him. Safer from the pain.

The voice spoke a word and the gag and blindfold that he'd been wearing dropped from his face to the ground.

Demetrius looked around, bidding his time before he would speak, Claire was looking at him wide eyed, tears streaming down her face.

He was standing with his wand pointed directly at her heart.


End file.
